About Me
- Princess Hope
- "I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence" - Frederick Douglass. 'Nuff Said
Monday, March 30, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Cycling News: Super start for unherald rookie Khairul
The Borneo Post Tuesday, March 10th, 2009
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KUCHING: Rookie rider Khairul Ibrahim made a grand entrance into competitive cycling when he won the Sarawak Cycling Association’s Masja Criterium Open category.
During Sunday’s season opening race, the unheralded 19-year-old shook up the Kuching peloton when he quite convincingly took the mountain bike open title in his first ever race.
Riding for Team Borneo Freedom Riders, the Kuching Politeknik student finished the 10-lap 18km race at Petra Jaya’s Masja circuit in 27mins 33secs.
Guided by wily veteran Piruz Bujang McPherson, the rookie rider kept up with the pack for seven laps before seizing his opportunity with a breakaway in the eighth lap to make sure his arrival in the local peloton did not go unnoticed.
The pack mounted a desperate chase but Khairul managed to keep up a torrid pace to take the chequered flag.
As is the case with teenagers, the rookie did not lag in confidence. Some might even say he was brash.
However, he showed that on this day he could certainly walk the talk.
“I felt that I had a 50:50 chance going into the race,” Khairul said.
“I saw an opening in the eight lap and decided to take it. I’m glad I went for it. My training had been going pretty well. I had put in a good training base during the off-season,” he added.
The last few weeks he had intensified his training by riding with the big local teams like Negaya and Viking. All that hard work had paid off handsomely.
“We are really happy for Khairul. This is a big win for the team, “said a happy Piruz, who has worked hard to keep the Freedom Riders intact for the past few years.
Second in the race was Syamsul Ali Hamdan with Glory Chai rounding off the podium. Syamsul posted 28mins 45secs — three seconds ahead of Chai.
The lanky Chai’s third placing cemented his emergence as one of the stronger riders in the Kuching peloton.
In the 18-lap road open category, relative unknown Ghen Choon Mar upset the established pecking order when he cruised home unchallenged in 45mins 44secs.
Way off the pace was Matthew Chong in 48mins 2secs and third placer Razali Ghazali Hakiki Ali Samson of Negaya Racing in 48mins 45secs.
2008 Sukma rider Wong Tak Fuk underscored his position as one of the top juniors in the state when he won the two junior titles up for grabs in what could only be described as cruise control mode.
The SK Sematang fifth former won the six-lap road event in 15mins 36secs.
Aizat Zharif Zambri was second in 16mins 55secs with former Sukma candidate Mohd Ashraf trailing eight seconds further back.
Wong won the mountain bike category in 18mins 59secs.
Team Viking, always a podium threat, took the second place when their Mohd Iskandar Hassim crossed the line ahead of Mohd Ashraf, who had to settle for third again.
In the women’s open, Junaidah Juss won convincingly in 18mins 39secs, cruising home nine seconds ahead of Desi Yulfitri Muslim.
Hajijah Abang Wahab was third in 21mins 6secs.
Former Sarawak champion Supian Nor of Negaya Racing showed he is still a force to be reckoned with when he placed in both veteran races.
In the nine-lap veteran road category, Chan Jong Khoon won in 25mins 20secs with Viking’s Yusmail Latif second in 26mins 50secs and Supian third, a further nine seconds back.
Supian had earlier settled for second place in the veterans’ mountain bike event behind Hamdan Abang Wahab with Mohd Zaidi taking third.
“I can’t challenge those young legs anymore,” laughed Supian, always ready with a good quote.
He admitted he had slacked off on his training — what with work commitments and training the Negaya team.
The race even had a bit of international flavour with the presence of several international students from Swinburne University. They were from Denmark, home of former Tour de France winner, Bjarne Riis.
Sarawak Cycling Association president Abdul Karim later gave away the trophies.
The association was pleased with the turnout.
“It was a great response as we had more than 100 competitors,” said race co-ordinator Ismail Taha.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Book Review: The Damage Done: Twelve Years of Hell in a Bangkok Prison by Warren Fellows
| Category: | Books |
| Genre: | Biographies & Memoirs |
| Author: | Warren Fellows |
Product Description
In 1978 Warren Fellows was convicted of heroin trafficking between Thailand and Australia. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in the notorious Bang Kwang prison - better known as the Bangkok Hilton. It was the beginning of 12 years of hell in a place where sewer rats and cockroaches are the only nutritious food, where prison guards laugh as they deliver pulverising blows and where the worst punishment is the khun deo - solitary confinement, Thai style. The Damage Done is one man's story of an unthinkable nightmare. It is not Warren Fellows' plea for forgiveness nor his denial of guilt, but a story of endurance and survival and the abuse of human rights during the decade of a life wasted in leg irons. It is an essential read: heartbreaking, fascinating and impossible to put down. -AMAZON.COM-
.......
I picked up this book at Bangkok airport yesterday while waiting to transit to Chieng Mai. My initial thought was to present this book to friends as an example of sheer willpower to survive and strength to get through the worst. As I read half of it in the departure gate in Bangkok, I realised why the reviews for the book had said that this is one read which isn't for the faint hearted. As much as I feel that Fellows had left out a lot more graphical details of being incarcerated and tortured, those that he had written about were enough of an impression. Horror, sadness, disgust - you name it - are the emotions that one will experience while reading this book.
There are several others who have told their stories of being incarcerated in the notoriously infamous "Bangkok Hilton" and other similar prisons across the world. It also struck me that a majority of these inmates were either of Aussie or British backgrounds and their crime similar - trafficking of cocaine or heroin.
I highly recommend this book, not with the intention to make one depressed, but rather, understand the remorse, lessons learned by those who had once been blinded by greed and ego of being invincible in the drug trade, and also catch glimpses of hope and strength that are displayed in the darkest of hours.
In 1978 Warren Fellows was convicted of heroin trafficking between Thailand and Australia. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in the notorious Bang Kwang prison - better known as the Bangkok Hilton. It was the beginning of 12 years of hell in a place where sewer rats and cockroaches are the only nutritious food, where prison guards laugh as they deliver pulverising blows and where the worst punishment is the khun deo - solitary confinement, Thai style. The Damage Done is one man's story of an unthinkable nightmare. It is not Warren Fellows' plea for forgiveness nor his denial of guilt, but a story of endurance and survival and the abuse of human rights during the decade of a life wasted in leg irons. It is an essential read: heartbreaking, fascinating and impossible to put down. -AMAZON.COM-
.......
I picked up this book at Bangkok airport yesterday while waiting to transit to Chieng Mai. My initial thought was to present this book to friends as an example of sheer willpower to survive and strength to get through the worst. As I read half of it in the departure gate in Bangkok, I realised why the reviews for the book had said that this is one read which isn't for the faint hearted. As much as I feel that Fellows had left out a lot more graphical details of being incarcerated and tortured, those that he had written about were enough of an impression. Horror, sadness, disgust - you name it - are the emotions that one will experience while reading this book.
There are several others who have told their stories of being incarcerated in the notoriously infamous "Bangkok Hilton" and other similar prisons across the world. It also struck me that a majority of these inmates were either of Aussie or British backgrounds and their crime similar - trafficking of cocaine or heroin.
I highly recommend this book, not with the intention to make one depressed, but rather, understand the remorse, lessons learned by those who had once been blinded by greed and ego of being invincible in the drug trade, and also catch glimpses of hope and strength that are displayed in the darkest of hours.
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